By: Jay Michaelson , Forward, July 7 2015
“Fourth and finally, the Maccabees Strategy that we’ve seen so far is going to backfire because it willfully misdiagnoses why so many people are critical of Israel right now.
The reason is not because the critics are anti-Semitic, hopelessly liberal or otherwise deluded. It is because many people think it’s wrong for any state to deny 4 million people the right to vote, to determine their own future, and to live free of military occupation. That’s true of China too, but when it’s the Jewish state (and one propped up by American aid), American Jews feel particularly implicated.
To be told that isn’t really happening, or that it’s the victims’ fault or that it’s anti-Semitic to talk about it — all this will drive moderate students to SJP and other BDS-supporting groups.
The “world has turned against Israel” because Israel has turned against the two-state solution. It’s not quite that simple, but it almost is.”
Anthropologists for Dialogue on Israel/Palestine 